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Walensky, director of the CDC, confirmed that the vaccines largely were ineffective in preventing viral transmission from person to . Walensky kept publishing research on key pandemic topics, such as college testing and antibody treatments. Misinformation robs us of our freedom to make decisions for our health based on science and facts.Addressing health misinformation is an urgent challenge, a moral and civic responsibility that we must meet together. But Dr. Fauci said that he believed some small missteps were inevitable, and that Dr. Walensky was a quick study. And in November, she offered a sobering reality check from the front lines about current COVID-19 medical treatments: "When I think about the armamentarium of true drugs that we have that benefit people with this disease, it's pretty sparse," she said. Q Hi, and thanks for taking my question. For instance, the agency removed guidance that advised limiting church choir activities even though studies had demonstrated the danger of transmission of extended singing indoors. She ordered the hospital staff to wear masks before it became the national norm, and advised the mayor of her town and the governor on testing and prevention of Covid-19. Im going to pause here, Im going to lose the script and Im going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom, she said, her eyes glistening with tears. But the confusing communications rattled a few, turning optimism into uncertainty and disappointment, one senior C.D.C. 2. "I think they've been muzzled that science hasn't been heard. Dr. Rochelle Walenskys pioneering research has helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS. Flu hospitalizations for this time of year are higher than they have been in a decade. First, lets go to Carl ODonnell at Reuters. Its another life protected. Tenants . An overwhelming majority of its scientists, and particularly those in management positions, are white. All this has led to avoidable illnesses and deaths. Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky were among the witnesses testifying on ending the pandemic at a hearing held by the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee. The vaccines work. She is known for her role in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Under him, the agency quietly made changes to its guidance, sometimes dictated by the Trump administration, with no public announcement. At Vanderbilt, weve been doing Covid Vaccine 101, 102, 103, 104, said Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "He's young and fit and in the prime of his life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million kids under 17 have contracted COVID-19, Slavitt said, "and even though it's rare for kids to get severely ill from COVID-19, it can happen.". FAUCI: Yes, well, as Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said multiple times, the CDC is looking at a number of different cohorts that will get the information that will be needed as she said if and . "Super loud. Susan Walsh/AP Rochelle at baseline is an excellent communicator, but I think in a situation this fraught politically, operationally and how quickly the science moves youre going to make mistakes, said Dr. Celine Gounder, a former adviser to Mr. Bidens team on Covid-19. Maybe - I will say another really important one - and I'm going to guess you're going to get to this - is vaccination. I think people have had some more time to read about and think about the vaccine, he said. I saw professionals doing their jobs. Were seeing more and more nurses and health care providers say theyd rather wait to accept the vaccine, Dr. Jos Romero, chairman of the panel, said at the meeting Saturday. In January, shown in the middle of the slide, we were averaging nearly 200,000 cases per day. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. My kids jumped up. He said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong, is everything OK?' But if you are beyond that window, I want to reiterate: There is no bad time to get your second shot.Do it for yourself, your family, and for your community. Walensky brought a plaque from her desk in Boston to CDC headquarters in Atlanta. I want to reiterate that people who got the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are most effective, especially when against the Delta variant when given as two shots in a series. On May 12, 2021, CDC recommended use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 12 years and up based on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in adolescents following clinical trials. ZIENTS: Dr Fauci? A Warner Bros. is demonstrably different from that of her predecessor, Dr. Robert R. Redfield. Her father, Edward Bersoff, was a mathematician and engineer at NASA; her mother, Carol Bersoff-Bernstein, was an executive at a. And thats a situation that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is going to look at next week. We encourage that people get vaccinated on schedule three or four weeks after your first dose. Every shot is progress. Then, Dr. Fauci will present the data from other countries facing the Delta variant. Today, Dr. Walensky will provide an update on the state of the pandemic and the Delta variant. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has come under criticism for the confusing messaging. Do you agree with that guidance? Rochelle Walensky (Rochelle Paula Walensky, MD, MPH) serves as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The truth is that, across our nation, the voices of doctors, nurses, scientists, and public health experts are too often being drowned out by the false sirens of misinformation. Still, Boston colleagues say they have no doubt she'll succeed in making the transition from leading an infectious diseases division of 300 staffers to a public health agency of about 13,000. But in a recent interview, she was unapologetic about the rapid shifts in C.D.C. She has been selected to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Biden . floundered at the beginning of the pandemic, pilloried for its botched coronavirus test and antiquated data systems. The bottom line is: We are dealing with a formidable variant in the Delta variant, as reflected by the data that Dr. Walensky told you, and the extreme vulnerability of people who are not vaccinated, which will account for infections, hospitalizations, and, ultimately, deaths.And so the message loud and clear that we need to reiterate is that these vaccines continue to strong protection against SARS-CoV-2, including the Delta variant. "I got called during a code," she says. And, after weeks of declines, seven-day average daily deaths have increased by 26 percent to 211 per day.Today, Dr. Fauci and I want to provide some perspective about these numbers and how we should be thinking about where we are at this critical moment in the pandemic.There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Within the C.D.C., many scientists were relieved to have a leader who put science above politics. Tens of millions have been infected. ", She also had extraordinary energy and discipline, even then, he remembers: "Most of us would roll out of bed and stumble into the lecture hall as our first activity of the day, and for Rochelle, she was already up and running and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for hours before any of us ever saw the light of day.". We have to educate our own work force and answer their questions., He said Walensky struck the right note in her hospitals video when she said that even with the vaccine, we should manage our expectations in terms of taking off our masks.. employees called on then-director Dr. Redfield to address ongoing and recurring acts of racism and discrimination against Black staff members and outlined a seven-point plan. The C.D.C. Dr. Redfield did not respond, and later in the year the agency suspended diversity training programs following an executive order from the Trump administration. However, we know that the vaccines that are listed on the lefthand part of this slide that are being used in this country namely the Pfizer, Moderna, and the J&J both in lab studies and in clinical effectiveness studies show the effectiveness of these vaccines against the Delta variant, particularly, and importantly, against hospitalization. The AP is solely responsible for all content. MORE: 5 things to know about COVID protections as Americans head back to work Q Thank you all for doing this. In one of the videos, Walensky explains the basics of the two vaccines, including that they use a new type of technology, they need to be given in two doses, and they have to be kept at cold temperatures. It's amazing. At the same time, as Dr. Fauci said, because we have so many people fully vaccinated, including about 80 percent of seniors those who are most vulnerable, those over 65 years of age we will likely see smaller increases in hospitalizations, similar to the Israel and UK experience. And during this pandemic, health misinformation has led people to resist wearing masks in high-risk settings; to turn down proven treatments in some cases to turn to unproven treatments and to choose not to get vaccinated. Meet the Team An error occurred. Now a new CDC director is arriving to a mammoth task: reasserting the agency while the pandemic is in its deadliest phase yet and the nations largest-ever vaccination campaign is wracked by confusion and delays. And as Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci are making clear, this is a question that they are continually evaluating. Anyone can read what you share. President Joe Biden and members of his COVID task force are using personal stories to persuade young people get vaccinated following up on the Food and Drug Administration authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 earlier this month. And we really want people to gather. I know thats a hard sell, but I think its a smart sell. Within weeks, the agency was pushed off stage. Accuracy and availability may vary. So do we anticipate that they're going to have the same rates of protection as they did for the original strain? Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks at a coronavirus briefing in December 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/health/walensky-cdc-covid.html. Scenes from Mass General were still fresh in her mind when she arrived at the C.D.C. Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images. Beyond unmuzzling her agency's staff, she vows to tackle many other challenges, pushing particularly hard on the vaccine rollout and rebuilding the public health system. But what should we be doing to keep everyone safe from illness? Her father, Edward Bersoff, was a mathematician and engineer at NASA; her mother, Carol Bersoff-Bernstein, was an executive at a technology company. The agencys handling of the COVID-19 outbreak began in a similar way. She favors the John Snow Memorandum, which advocates an alternative, risk-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic that involves Focused Protection of those most at risk and seeks to avoid or minimize the societal harm of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The nurses survey was done in the first half of October, before data came out from Pfizer and Modernas large-scale clinical trials showing that the vaccines had no serious safety concerns and were 95% effective. If and when. At the time, Dr. Walensky was the hospitals chief infectious diseases expert. You know, I think it's really important to sort of go back to the basics of the things that we know that we can do to protect ourselves. Asked on CNN whether the Biden plan to get 100 million Americans vaccinated in 100 days could restore a sense of normalcy, she responded with characteristic bluntness a quality that could cause trouble in these polarized times. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gives her opening statement during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the on-going federal response to Covid-19, May 11, 2021, in Washington, DC. Last summer, after protests over the death of George Floyd, more than 1,200 C.D.C. WALENSKY: I was just going to say, with regard to the immunosuppressed population, this is a little bit of a different scenario where we might be concerned that in fact they didnt get full protection from their initial two doses, so we would be looking at a third prime dose in that situation. Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Were also asking other organizations to do their part in every sector from health and education, to research and journalism, to philanthropy and government. Well, we're going to put that question now to CDC director Rochelle Walensky. Over time we will be able to maybe one day not be in our masks anymore, but I have told my family I anticipate theyll be wearing a mask for the better part of 21, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a video produced by her hospital last month. That analytic skill has come in handy over the past year, as she has helped lead the pandemic response for her Boston hospital and for the state of Massachusetts. And from the moment Walensky stepped up to lead the CDC, she has promised to keep telling the truth. itself. Payton Nguyen, 12, receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinefrom nurse Lakera Thorne at Providence Edwards Lifesciences vaccination site in Santa Ana, Calif., , May 13, 2021. CHANG: I mean, why isn't the CDC more strongly recommending masking in public places right now, during this so-called tripledemic? and made similar arguments about the pricing of Gileads Covid drug remdesivir. Well continue to put public health first. During a news briefing on March 29, as infections began to rise again, she looked into the camera and, in a voice quavering with emotion, pleaded with Americans not to stop taking precautions against the coronavirus. She says that The Great Barrington Declaration is predicated on the idea that you know who is going to get sick and you can somehow isolate and protect them, but there is absolutely no evidence that we can do this No-one is suggesting that lockdowns should be the default position. Clearly, the Delta variant is dominant in the world. Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser. When asked why CDC posted new guidance telling fully vaccinated individuals they can go without masks before updating guidance for schools, businesses, and travel, Walensky said they're working diligently on it. You can just look at her and just by her presence know that she is both competent and dedicated, said Schaffner, a liaison representative on the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Unvaccinated Americans account for virtually all recent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Her openness signaled her genuine anguish about the state of the pandemic, he added. ". The video, plus another video Walensky appears in, are part of an effort to help educate hospital employees about the coronavirus vaccines, according to Dr. Paul Biddinger, director of emergency preparedness for Mass General Brigham. But through it all, as the long months became a year, Walensky had been out front, Stephenson says, sticking to the science and telling the truth. Dr. Murthy.SURGEON GENERAL MURTHY: Well, thanks so much, Jeff. The camp guidance is intended to get our kids to camp and allow them to stay there," she continued. And its great to be with all of you again today. Did you encounter any technical issues? Rochelle Paula Walensky ( ne Bersoff; born April 5, 1969) is an American physician-scientist who is the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Last May 11th, it was 24,000. Rochelle Walensky Religion This is amazing!' Its advice on masking, asymptomatic spread of the virus and the threat indoors was muddled. MR. ZIENTS: Next question. "And when you get called during a code, your job is to be there to help.". Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. But Barks and others who know Walensky well say she's clear-eyed and ready to dig in to meet the challenge; she'll try a new approach if first attempts fall short. And it is one of those important areas that we can use to protect ourselves in a layered prevention mechanism.